There is an enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms Thursday from southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, southeast Ohio south across the Tennessee Valley to central Mississippi.

NWS preliminary reports for March 28 mention 16 tornadoes, all of them in Texas. Tennis ball-sized hail and 119 km/h (74 mph) wind gusts were reported in Seymour, while El Reno, across the border in Oklahoma, registered 153 km/h (95 mph) wind gusts.

On this sad day, three storm chasers were killed in a two-car accident near Spur, Texas. On Wednesday, two brothers, aged 11 and 12, died after they were electrocuted by downed power lines in a heavily wooded area in East Forth Worth.

At least 200 000 people in the Dallas/Forth Worth area were without power at one point. Thousands were without power in Oklahoma, too.

A survey team with the NWS has confirmed an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 145 km/h (90 mph) touched down in southwest Houston. The tornado caused a big scare and plenty of damage to an apartment complex. There were no injuries reported, but many families in the complex were affected. Several vehicles were also damaged when a carport caved in.

According to the NWS Storm Prediction Center, there is an enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms Thursday from southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, southeast Ohio south across the Tennessee Valley to central Mississippi.

“An upper low crossing eastern Kansas early in the period is forecast to accelerate eastward across Missouri and into the Midwest through the period – as a vigorous short-wave over the Pacific Northwest at the start of the period digs southeastward with time, evolving into a deepening closed low with time and reaching the Arizona/Utah border region by the end of the period“.

As the eastern upper low is kicked eastward by the digging western system, short-wave troughing – within broader cyclonic flow surrounding the low – will move quickly eastward out of the southern Plains and across the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf coastal states. This will facilitate a rather rapid eastward advance of a surface cold front across the southeast quarter of the country. This front – trailing southward from a parent low moving across the Ohio Valley states through the afternoon and evening – should extend from the southern Appalachians to the Florida Panhandle vicinity by 12:00 UTC, March 31

The Midwest south to the Gulf Coast, and the Mississippi Valley east to the Appalachians:

A very complex weather scenario continues to unfold – complicated largely by ongoing showers and locally strong to severe storms now affecting the middle and lower Mississippi Valley area. Models suggest that much of this convection will be contained within two distinct clusters at the start of the period – one crossing the mid Mississippi Valley into the lower Ohio Valley area, and a second crossing southern and eastern Mississippi/eastern Louisiana. The Ohio Valley convection is forecast to gradually weaken through the morning hours, while the southern cluster of convection may persist – in a locally severe manner – across the central Gulf coastal region.

This extreme weather event with its tornadoes, strong winds and large hail, isn’t finished. Stay safe!

(strangesounds.org)

North Dakota is the only state that allows police to use weaponized drones, but limits the use to "less lethal" weapons, including stun guns, rubber bullets and tear gas.

Five states - Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin - prohibit anyone from using a weaponized drone, while Maine and Virginia ban police from using armed drones, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Several other states have restricted drone use in general.

"We have huge concerns that they would use this new technology to abuse our communities," said Scot X. Esdaile, president of state chapter of the NAACP.

Esdaile said he has received calls from around the country from NAACP officials and others concerned about the Connecticut legislation.

Three police departments in the state - Hartford, Plainfield and Woodbury - began using drones within the past year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

"We would be setting a dangerous precedent," said David McGuire, executive director of the state ACLU. "It is really concerning and outrageous that that's being considered in our state legislature. Lethal force raises this to a level of real heightened concern."

The bill also includes restrictions on drone use and reporting requirements that are supported by the ACLU.

It would require police to get a warrant before using a drone, unless there are emergency circumstances or the person who is the subject of the drone use gives permission. It also would require police to report yearly on how often they use drones and why, and create new crimes and penalties for criminal use of drones, including voyeurism.

Although the bill overwhelmingly passed the Judiciary Committee, several members said they just wanted to see the proposal get to the House floor for debate. They said they had concerns about police using deadly force with drones.

"I think that police are taught one thing," said Democratic Bridgeport Sen. Edwin Gomes. "You put a weapon in their hand, they shoot center mass, they shoot to kill. If it's going to be used, you're going to use it to kill somebody."

spaceweather.com

APRIL 1ST COMET FLYBY: Green comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is flying over Earth's North Pole this week where sky watchers can find it all night long not far from the bowl of the Big Dipper. At closest approach on April 1st it will be just 21 million km from Earth--an easy target for backyard telescopes and almost visible to the naked eye. Amateur astronomer Yasushi Aoshima sends this picture of the approaching comet from Fukushima, Japan:

"On March 22nd I caught 41P 'eating' M108, the Surfboard Galaxy," says Aoshima. "The comet's green atmosphere appeared to swallow the distant spiral galaxy as it exited Ursa Major."

Why green? Like many comets, 41P has a verdant hue because its atmosphere contains diatomic carbon (C2)--a substance that glows green in the near vacuum of space.

Comet 41P is not only approaching Earth, but also the sun. April 12th is the date of perihelion (minimum distance from the sun). This means we are catching the comet just as solar heating is furiously searing its icy core. The green atmosphere should be well puffed up by streamers of vaporizing gas. Optimistic estimates of the comet's brightness place it at magnitude +6, near the lower limit of naked-eye visibility.

This is not a Great Comet, but it should be a good one. The best time to observe is during the dark hours before sunrise when the green fuzzball is high in the northern sky. If you have a GOTO telescope, you can point it using an ephemeris from the Minor Planet Center. These sky maps show approximately where to look: March 31,April 1, 2.